+10000000Wendigo wrote:Instinct tells me you will get MUCH better results by using a drive pedal of some kind on the distortion channel of the amp. Set your clean to clean, the distortion to crunch (edge of breakup) and the drive to just a little bit of boost. That will drive the crunch sound into full-on distortion without getting too out of control in the feedback department.
Of course, it depends on the pedal. But I think that most of the "boutique-ish" type overdrive pedals run best when you run them with less/moderate gain levels, and hit an amp that's already on or just over the edge of breakup.
This is where my Fulltone OCD shines. It's works well with a clean-as-a-whistle platform, but it really shines when the amp is at least starting to dust up a bit.
Another thing to consider is a ZVex SHO (or a clone). If you're already running with a decent amount of crunch on the "gain" channel of the amp, this would just boost the signal coming from your guitar, so you'd get a bit of a volume boost as well as a perceived gain boost, especially if you dig in harder on the strings.